Responses to Old People Who Ask for Help

Abstract

Three experiments were devised and conducted in order to examine the frequency of helping behaviors toward young, middle-aged, and old adults. Two out of the three experiments revealed a positive relationship between the age of the help seeker and the frequency of assistance. Middle-aged adults were helped significantly more often than young adults, and old adults were helped significantly more frequently than middle-aged adults. In order to understand why the elderly received assistance more frequently than younger adults, the help seekers were evaluated on a number of semantic-differential scales. The results indicate that the elderly project a combination of both "negative" and "positive" characteristics. This combination predisposes persons to favor the elderly over other groups in providing assistance. The relationship between the age of the help seeker and the frequency of assistance was attenuated in the third experiment because the age and related characteristics of the help seeker were less salient.

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